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There are abundant reasons why the United States should not indiscriminately withdraw its forces from Iraq before the Iraqi people are able to defend themselves effectively.

The most obvious reason is that the national security of the United States depends directly on the outcome of the Iraq War. If the US withdraws prematurely, it is a very real possibility that the terrorists will gain permanent control of at least a portion of Iraq.

With Iraq under their control, they will have an even better situation than they had in Afghanistan prior to 2001. They will have an independent state to serve as a base for their training camps and they will have the all legitimacy that a national government offers, including an ambassador to the United Nations. More importantly, they will have billions of dollars of oil wealth to finance their war against the United States and other western nations.

If the terrorists do not gain control of Iraq after a US withdrawal, it is very likely that it will be because Iran or one of their proxy Shiite sects gains control instead. It has long been known that Iran is a major instigator of many attacks within Iraq. Muqtada al Sadr, leader of the Shiite Mahdi army, also has many ties to the Iranian Shiite regime.

If Iran gains control of Iraq, they will dominate much of the world's oil supply. A ruthless terrorist regime, such as that of Ahmadinejad, would wreak havoc on the economies of western nations if he had the ability to shut off the flow of oil. An Iranian nuclear weapon would make the situation that much worse for the oil consumer nations.

Iranian control of Iraq would probably also signal a wider war. Saudi Arabia, a Sunni nation, has publicly announced that they will intervene to protect Iraqi Sunnis if the US withdraws. Likewise, Turkish troops would attack Kurdish rebel enclaves in northern Iraq if it were not for the restraining presence of US troops. The presence of US troops is the only thing preventing the violence from spreading to Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and other Persian Gulf nations.

With the unanimous appointment of General David Petraeus to command of the US forces in Iraq, the US finally has a commander who understands counter-insurgency warfare. Gen. Petraeus literally wrote the book on counter-insurgency for the US Army. General Petraeus subscribes to the take and hold policy that was very successful in the latter years of the Vietnam War, as well as working in other countries. The

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